The Colorado Legacy Foundation has received a $50,000 grant from the Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado to help create safer, healthier schools.
The grant supports one of the Colorado Legacy Foundation’s key initiatives – health and wellness in schools. The funding will be used to host the 2010 Healthy Schools Summit on Tuesday, Nov. 9, launch a new section dedicated exclusively to bullying prevention on the foundation’s online Health and Wellness Best Practices Guide, and provide hands-on bullying prevention assistance to schools as well as grants to support bullying prevention work.
“The upcoming Healthy Schools Summit and coinciding release of the new bullying prevention section of the online Health and Wellness Best Practices Guide are timely, given the recent series of devastating incidents of bullying and suicides across the country,” said Helayne Jones, executive director of the Colorado Legacy Foundation.
The Nov. 9 Healthy Schools Summit agenda includes a bullying prevention panel of national and local speakers from the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN) as well as the National Center for School Engagement and Colorado School Safety Resource Center.
The summit – also sponsored by Kaiser Permanente of Colorado and Western Dairy Association – is for superintendents, school district administrators, teachers, coordinated school health team members, community health and wellness agencies, health care providers and school board members. Register for this free, full-day event at this link: www.cde.state.co.us/scripts/HealthySchoolsSummitReg10/registration.asp
“The issue of bullying in schools is so critical that most states, including Colorado, have passed an anti-bullying law,” said Karla Rikansrud, director of allies and institutions for the Gill Foundation. The Gay and Lesbian Fund for Colorado is a project of the Gill Foundation.
“The bottom line is that students should be treated with respect – regardless of their gender, sexual orientation, gender expression, religion, race, ability or national origin,” said Rikansrud. “With the upcoming launch of best practices in bullying prevention, the Colorado Legacy Foundation is making it more manageable for schools to expect and maintain a culture of respect and tolerance.”
The new section of the online guide will offer practical tips, tools and resources that educators, parents, school boards and community members can use to prevent bullying in schools.
“Schools and districts are asking us for practical help to prevent bullying in Colorado schools,” said Jones. “The new section of our Health and Wellness Best Practices Guide will help them do just that. It will quickly point them toward what works without having to search through the countless bullying prevention resources out there.”
The online guide offers data, best practices, action steps, and success stories for educators, parents and community members who want to create safer, healthier schools.
Available at http://www.colegacy.org, the guide is the second in a series of best practices published by the Colorado Legacy Foundation in collaboration with the Colorado Department of Education. The new bullying prevention section will launch in early November.
About the Colorado Legacy Foundation
Inspired by CDE's Forward Thinking strategic plan, the Colorado Legacy Foundation is the first foundation in the country to be launched by a state department of education. The Colorado Legacy Foundation was established in 2007 as a private nonprofit governed by an independent board of trustees that develops initiatives to support CDE's work. The Colorado Legacy Foundation's mission is to invest in promising strategies to improve public education. The privately funded nonprofit evaluates results, convenes education stakeholders and provides recommendations to schools for continuous improvement. Its unique partnership with CDE allows the foundation to advance innovation in public schools throughout the state. More: http://www.colegacy.org
Students at Landmark academy at reunion celebrate first annual latin culture week
Landmark Academy at Reunion , a tuition-free public charter school, recently hosted their First Annual Latin Culture Week, a week focused on educating students on the various aspects of Latin culture, from music and art to sports and celebrities, through unique activities. During the week-long celebration, students were able to step into the lives of the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans with Latin culture lessons through piñata making, cultural crafts, songs, traditional foods and more. Students made maracas and learned a traditional Mexican Hat Dance; created Aztec suns working with metal tooling; and studied different countries in Mexico , Central America and South America . Aztec dancers from the Colorado Folk Arts Council also visited with students and educated them on the spiritual and traditional aspects of Aztec culture through dance. “We reside in a community with strong Latin and Hispanic roots,” said Matt Carlton, principal of Landmark Academy at Reunion . “Our community culture is important to us at Landmark. By providing unique ways for our students to learn the various backgrounds of our diverse community they are able to understand and appreciate different cultures.” For more information about Landmark Academy at Reunion , please visit www.landmarkacademy.org.
